Meeting the market needs for cross-border business payments

September 21, 2021.

Recently we had a good talk with our customers, 90% of whom are mid-size cross-border business owners. Our main concern was to understand if they are happy with the service and new features that we plan to launch in the upcoming months.

Meeting the market needs for cross-border business payments

Recently we had a good talk with our customers, 90% of whom are mid-size cross-border business owners. Our main concern was to understand if they are happy with the service and new features that we plan to launch in the upcoming months.

Thanks to the honest feedback, we felt very confident about our product development roadmap and it encouraged us to share the main conclusion of these conversations with the wider public.

What business customers require:

From a business banking perspective, in the global market, there are two things that allow businesses to grow and flourish at a steady pace. Firstly, the safety of funds and, secondly, the speed of transactions – in entering new markets that's what is highly important, not to say essential.

How a suitable banking product should look like:

At the core of an efficient banking product for international businesses is a multi-currency account with well-designed functionality to send, receive, hold and convert cross-border payments. The speed and cost of transactions must be ensured by a wide choice of payment rails, both global and local, equally important for outgoing payments and collections. A variety of reliable payment methods that support all the possible payment corridors is the exact solution that allows businesses to operate without borders and achieve their operational goals. The safety of funds and their liquidity is another requirement for a banking partner, as it should be 100% creditable and inspire trust. A personal manager to support daily transactional flows is another service feature that helps modern businesses to access the new markets in the most simple way possible and provides a private banking experience that is always a great plus.

Main highlights from the recent updates in our roadmap:

The number of payment rails available to customers has risen by 20 in just 3 months, ensuring cheaper and faster transactions in local European and South Asian currencies. We plan to continue expanding the list of currencies and payment schemes available to our customers for immediate settlement. Two new partnering institutions were added in the last few months, including Banking Circle that guarantees faster compliance response for global transactions addressed to markets like China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ukraine, and a few more. Next in the roadmap is to partner with 4 new financial institutions by the end of 2021, expanding the payment geography even further. The personal manager team grew by 30% in the previous quarter with a hiring plan of doubling the team during the next year in response to the growing number of customers.

“Businesses that we work with have employees, suppliers, and partners spread around the world. We are set on a mission to provide them with a choice of payment methods so that they can get in control of their payment processes: in order to transact at preferred speed with full transparency, dedicated manager’s support, and 24/7 access to the wholesale FX rates” – says Konstantin Zaripov, Managing Director at MultiPass.